Blogging from the Highlands of Scotland
'From fanaticism to barbarism is only one step' - Diderot

Tuesday, 25 January 2011

Rabbie Burns an a' that!

To celebrate the Bard's birthday, a couple of short poems which strike me as ususually pithy, even for him!



Pinned to Mrs Walter Riddell's Carriage

If you rattle along like your Mistress's tongue,
Your speed will outrival the dart;
But a fly for your load, you'll break down on the road,
If your stuff be as rotten's her heart.




Epitaph for Mr Walter Riddell

Sic a reptile was Wat, sic a miscreant slave,
That the worms ev'n d....d him when laid in his grave;
"In his flesh there's a famine," a starved reptile cries,
"And his heart is rank poison!" another replies.

Charming, eh! And such economy with words!!

2 comments:

  1. Must have been a bit liverish that evening, old Rabbie.

    ReplyDelete
  2. LOL - if all that one may glean about his life is even half true then 'liversishness' was not exactly a rare phenomenon for him ;))

    ReplyDelete

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